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13/7: Mumbai silently mourns victims of blasts on 1st anniversary

There was no huge posters and cutouts of the victims, no show of collective public grief and anger that have become a ritual on every anniversary of 26/11.

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Mumbai on Friday quietly mourned its dead on the first anniversary of July 13 triple blasts last year that claimed 27 lives and left over 100 wounded.

There was no huge posters and cutouts of the victims, no show of collective public grief and anger that have become a ritual on every anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, as victims' families try to come to terms with the loss.

The bustle is yet to return to 'Khau Galli' in Zaveri Bazaar, lined with stalls selling snacks, which attracted huge crowds before the blast that brought back shocking memories of 26/11 carnage that left in its bloody trail 166 dead and many more injured.

'Khau Galli', where a scooter packed with explosives went off that fateful day, now scares many in Zaveri Bazaar, the city's diamond and jewellery hub.

"We still remember the scene after the blasts...It took the life out of us...cannot forget the horrific incident. People lying in pools of blood and others running helter skelter," says Ramesh Pandit, a trader, with the scene of moments soon after the blast firmly etched on his mind.

"Khau Galli brings back those shocking and sad memories. I have stopped going there now just because I don't want to be reminded of what happened that evening," says another diamond merchant.

Traders complain that despite their repeated demand for setting up a police picket in the locality, police have not taken steps in this direction.

"So, we continue to live in perennial fear," a trader said.

Zaveri Bazaar, with its narrow lanes and bylanes, had also been targeted by terrorists on August 25, 2003 when two taxis exploded there and at Mumbai's landmark Gateway of India, killing 54 and wounding 244.

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